West Hoathly is a closed railway station on what is now the

Bluebell Railway The Bluebell Railway is an heritage line almost entirely in West Sussex in England, except for Sheffield Park which is in East Sussex. It is managed by the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society. It uses steam trains which operate between an ...

. The station was closed in 1958, but was used by contractors demolishing the line in the 1960s to bring equipment in and out.

History

Despite its name the site of West Hoathly station is actually situated in the village of Sharpthorne, half a mile from the village

West Hoathly West Hoathly is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England, located south west of East Grinstead. In the 2001 census 2,121 people, of whom 1,150 were economically active, lived in 813 households. At the 201 ...

. The station opened in 1882, just north of the long Sharpthorne Tunnel. Along with other stations along the line, all constructed under the influence of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR), a then substantial provision of £17,000 was made to construct each two-platform through station (the architecture was similar to that now seen at the restored ). These stations were designed to visually appeal to Victorian London-commuters, who had travelled into the

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

countryside looking for either a commuter property, or country cottage for the weekend. Designed by

Thomas Myres Thomas Harrison Myres FRIBA (1842 – 3 December 1926) was an English railway architect who designed stations and ancillary buildings for the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway lines that were opened between 1880 and 1883, including several o ...

in the then fashionable "Domestic Revival" style (similar to the later

Tudor Revival architecture Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

style), located on the westwards facing No.1 upside platform, the lavish main station building was designed as a two-storey

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

with a T-shaped footprint, with a single storey wing each side: booking office and toilets to the north; waiting room and storage to the south. All of this structure was fronted both sides by a timber-supported hipped canopy, which like all of the other buildings carried a hipped slate roof. The station had substantial sidings and a livestock loading dock located just to the north of No.1 platform. The downside No.2 platform was connected to the main buildings by a glazed footbridge, and had a similar timber-supported canopy which fronted a wooden waiting room. The

signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

was located on the north end of No.2 platform, and also controlled a single siding to the north of platform No.2. The station layout remained substantially unaltered throughout its operational life. However, it was found after a few years usage that the original external finish to the main station building of

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

beams and

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for Molding (decorative), moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of ...

infill was prone to water ingress, and so in the early 1900s was reformed in the local architectural style by covering the external walls with vertically-hung clay tiles. In the 1930s, the Southern Railway removed many of the superfluous LB&SCR decorations, and shortened the downside facilities to what was basically an open-plan shelter located next to the footbridge. Commercially on the station site, there was a small brickworks built to the east on land leased from the railway, giving it direct rail access; Today the still open brickworks is operated by Ibstock Brick Ltd, producing traditional Stock Bricks. A railway-built and owned "Railway Hotel" opened on the west side of the station forecourt, opposite the main station building. After closure of the railway, it was sold off by the British Railways Property Board and renamed the "Bluebell Inn", reopened as a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

. Closed in 1999, it is now a private residence called "Bluebell House".

Closure and demolition

The station closed to passengers on 30 May 1955, with the goods yard closed on 13 June. After legal objections to the line's closure, the station reopened to passengers on 7 August 1956, closing permanently on 17 March 1958. After the closure of the line to all traffic in 1963, the assigned BR contractors took over the site, using its facilities to control removal of track and infrastructure from the entire railway, and using its excellent road access to redistribute the assets. To enable their works, the contractors removed the down-side buildings and footbridge in 1964, and lifted the tracks in 1964/5. The main station building was demolished in late 1967.

Preservation

With a truncated line operating between Sheffield Park and Horsted Keynes, the Bluebell Railway Society purchased the largely levelled and cleared site in 1974. After raising funds to extend the line northwards, the society was faced with much local opposition to the extension, resulting in a

public enquiry A tribunal of inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such a public inquiry differs from a royal commission in that ...

and resultant

planning application Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

. Following approval of the decision by both the

Secretary of State for the Environment The Secretary of State for the Environment was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Department of the Environment (DoE). This was created by Edward Heath as a combination of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Ministry of Tra ...

and

Secretary of State for Transport The Secretary of State for Transport, also referred to as the transport secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the policies of the Department for Transport. The incumbent i ...

, in 1985, the society was granted the planning permission for the preserved railways extension to

East Grinstead East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the extreme northeast of the county, the civ ...

, and the right to apply for a

light railway order The Light Railways Act 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c.48) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. History Before the Act each new railway line built in the country required a specific Act of Parliament to be ob ...

, with the stipulation that West Hoathly would not be redeveloped as a station, due to local residents' concerns about a likely increase in local road traffic. If the society were later to decide to undertake such a station redevelopment, it would need to apply for additional planning permission. In 1992, the society's extension reached New Coombe Bridge, where a simple run-around loop was provided on the alignment of the former up line through West Hoathly, located just north of the former No.2 platform. Since then, the society – much like the 1960s railway removal contractors – have used the site to store materials for the extension, which were delivered there by road. This allowed the rebuilding of New Coombe Bridge, and opening of the extension northwards to Kingscote in early 1994. With the installation of a run-around loop at

Kingscote railway station Kingscote railway station is a preserved railway station on the heritage Bluebell Railway, located in West Sussex, England. History The station was opened in 1882, and as it was constructed under the influence of the London Brighton and South ...

, the loop just north of West Hoathly was removed, and the line returned to its current single-track, non-stopping configuration. As part of the extension of the line north from Kingscote, the society needed to contribute £4 million to the cost of removing rubbish from the former Imberhorne

landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...

site, which had filled in a

cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...

to a depth of . To help meet the cost, society members agreed to the sale of two plots of land on a former brickworks site to the east of the former station. Image:Track workers walking the line.JPG, Track workers walking the line through the old station with the tunnel beyond Image:Steam Train exits tunnel.JPG, A train with Terrier 672 ''Fenchurch'' leading exits the tunnel Image:WHnorth (Medium).JPG, A view of the supplies used to construct the East Grinstead extension delivered here due to the ease of road access

Future

The society has a long term ambition but still no plans or timetable to rebuild the station at West Hoathly. The society believes that in the long term, with substantial residential complexes around the former station site, the station could provide a useful public-transport facility for the residents of West Hoathly and Sharpthorne. West Hoathly Parish Council currently supports the provision of a halt at the site. However, under current

Railway Inspectorate Established in 1840, His Majesty's Railway Inspectorate (HMRI) is the organisation responsible for overseeing safety on Britain's railways and tramways. It was previously a separate non-departmental public body, but from 1990 to April 2006 it ...

guidelines, it would not be possible to build what would now be considered a "new" station on the former site, as it is located on a gradient. Hence the society believes that any future station at West Hoathly would most likely be located on the level stretch from the end of the goods yard towards New Coombe Bridge, approximately where the former temporary run-around loop was located.

References

External links